Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a battery cooling system for a vehicle. More particularly, the present invention relates to a battery cooling system for a vehicle, which interlocks an air conditioning device and cooling device that circulates coolant in a motor and an electric device in an electric vehicle or a hybrid vehicle and increases the temperature or cools down a battery module according to a state of the vehicle using the coolant circulating the cooling means.
Description of Related Art
In general, an air conditioning system for a vehicle includes an air conditioning system that circulates a refrigerant to warm up or cool down the interior of the vehicle.
Such an air conditioning device can maintain a comfortable indoor environment of the vehicle by maintaining a vehicle interior temperature at an appropriate temperature regardless of a temperature change of the exterior, and the refrigerant discharged by the driving of a compressor circulates back to the compressor through a condenser, a receiver dryer, an expansion valve, and an evaporator and heat exchange occurs during the circulation wherein the interior of the vehicle is warmed up or cooled down.
That is, in a summer cooling mode, a high-temperature and high-pressure gaseous refrigerant compressed by the compressor is condensed through the condenser and then evaporated through the receiver dryer and the expansion valve such that the indoor temperature and humidity of the vehicle can be lowered.
Recently, there is a need of developing an environmentally-friendly vehicle that can substantially replace the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles, with an increasing concern on energy efficiency and the problem with environmental pollution and the environmentally-friendly vehicle generally falls into an electric vehicle driven by a fuel cell or electricity, which is the power source, and a hybrid vehicle driven by an engine and an electric battery.
In the electric vehicle, among the environmentally-friendly vehicles, a separate heater is not used unlike an air conditioner of a general vehicle, and an air conditioner, which is applied to the electric vehicle, is typically referred to as a heat pump system.
In the case of the electric vehicle, chemical reaction energy of oxygen and hydrogen is converted into electric energy to generate a driving force, and during this process, heat energy is generated by chemical reaction in the fuel cell, and as a result, effectively removing the generated heat is required to secure performance of the fuel cell.
Even in the hybrid vehicle, the driving force is generated by driving the motor by using electricity supplied from the fuel cell or the electric battery together with the engine that is actuated with general fuel, and as a result, the performance of the motor can be secured only by effectively removing the heat generated from the fuel cell or the battery, and the motor.
Accordingly, in a hybrid vehicle or an electric vehicle according to conventional art needs to be provided with an electric device cooling means, a heat pump system, and a battery cooling system, respectively formed as closed circuits, to prevent the overheating of a battery including a motor, an electric device, and a fuel cell.
Thus, the size and weight of a cooling module provided in the front side of the vehicle are increased, and a layout of connection pipe through which a refrigerant or cooling water is supplied to the heat pump system, the electric unit cooling means, and the battery cooling system respectively in an engine compartment becomes complicated.
Further, since the battery cooling system that warms up or cools down the battery according to a state of the vehicle for optimal performance of the battery is separately provided, a plurality of valves are required to connect the battery cooling system to the respective connection pipes and the noise and vibration generated from frequent closing and opening of the valves are transferred to the interior of the vehicle, thereby deteriorating riding comfort.
The information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.